Breakfast, Movies, TV & Roller Derby

I don't sleep well when I'm not in my own bed, so I was up around 7am after going to bed around 2:30am. I laid there for another hour or so before I actually got up. Those that had crashed the night before were all waking up... except Barbara... man that girl can sleep through anything.

Once we were up a few of us headed out to breakfast. Joining me, was Robert, Cait, Rupert, Donna and Aaron. We went to a local diner called NoHo Diner. We enjoyed a much needed breakfast, this place has some of the best breakfast in North Hollywood.

Once we were done we headed back to Will's but he was still sleeping. We said our goodbyes and headed out. I was going back to Robert's as we had plans tonight.

Once back at his place, Cait, Robert and I watched "This is the End". We had never seen it and all wanted to when it was in the theater. Here's a brief synopsis of the story: All Jay Baruchel expected coming to LA was a fun time with Seth Rogen with all the wild partying to have both by themselves and at James Franco's housewarming party. Suddenly, the Rapture hits and the Biblical Apocalypse has begun. Now, Jay and Seth are desperately sheltering in James' house for rescue along with a few other friends. Together, they must band together to attempt to survive the end of the world, only for Jay to find that they are all too dumb and superficial to do it until they discover the only way out.

My review; It was pretty much what I expected. A bit to raunchy at times, extremely stupid at times but also very funny and heartwarming. One of my favorite parts was seeing all the stars during the party scene at the beginning. Of course 95% of them die when the apocalypse begins. And as you can guess one of my favorite scene was with Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies. I liked that they figured out how to get into heaven. Franco sacrificing himself for his friend and being taken up to heaven but of course he has to taunt the bad guys with the finger and foul language and the light disappears and he drops back to Earth only to be eaten by the bad guys. The end when Jay was being taken and Seth was going to sacrifice himself to save Jay had me tear up a little bit. It just reminded me of what you would do for your very best friend.

Overall it was an okay movie, it's not something I need to buy or will watch over and over again. For what it was, it was entertaining and I give it a solid B.

After the movie Cait took a nap as Robert and I went out to Taco Bell for some lunch. Once back we watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot, as Robert had not seen it yet and this was going to be my third time in a week. I didn't care as I really enjoyed the pilot episode and it was fun watching with Robert.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. we continued our first time viewing of Babylon 5. We watched Season 2, episode 13 "Hunter, Prey" A fugitive doctor on the run from the Earth Alliance is on Babylon 5, but when Captain Sheridan learns the reasons why, the race is on to find him before Earthforce Security can seize him.

I really enjoyed this episode, we didn't see many of the alien main characters in this episode. We find out that Sheridan is more involved with this "special" group then we first thought. He's actively working against the Earth government, which made me happy as we know they are not on the up and up. I liked the pairing of Garibaldi and Doctor Franklin. We see some movement with Sheridan's relationship with Kosh. Hopefully will find out more info about Kosh and who he and his people are. Over all it was a very entertaining episode.

It was now time to head out, Robert, Cait and I went over to Tamar's place and waited for Cici. Tamar has the most adorable little doggie Max. Once Cici joined us we were off to dinner at a local restaurant called Green Peas. 

Once done with dinner we headed to down town Los Angeles for some roller derby. I had never been to a roller derby but have seen it on TV and movies before. I was super excited to be going. This is an all female banked track roller derby event put on by the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. Tonight's team were Sirens vs Fight Crew. I knew nothing about the rules when it started but after a few rounds I started to understand what was happening and really started getting into the game. It was a blast and something I can see doing again in the near future.

After roller derby we headed back to Robert's place, I got in my car and came home for a much needed good night sleep.

Thanks Robert for making this a pretty awesome two days.

Birthday Surprise!!!!

Tonight I headed over to my buddy Robert's place as we were going to a stage show out in North Hollywood. Got to his place a bit early so we watched an episode of Babylon 5  from S2 Episode 12 "Acts of Sacrifice" Here's a brief description... The escalating Narn-Centauri War begins to have strong repercussions for Babylon 5 as G'Kar asks Sheridan for Earth Force help in the war, and a diplomatic dilemma with the Lumati spells trouble for Ivanova.

A really good episode, my heart just broke for G'Kar and once again my dislike for Londo grew. I figured fights would start happening between the Narn and the Centauri aboard Babylon 5. The Centauri people are just horrible. I didn't feel any pity when the Narn caught the "Centauri ring leader" and killed him. I liked that G'Kar had to fight the "leader" of the Narn group to regain his influence over them. The whole Ivanova story line was hilarious, her "sex" with the Lumati was just to much.. both Robert and I couldn't stop laughing. Over all not much happen with the main story arc (Shadow Wars) but lots with the Narn-Centauri war. And Londo redeemed himself a bit when he didn't press any charges to the Narn who killed the Centauri ring leader... Continuing to love this series.

We then headed out to North Hollywood, we had to stop by our friend Will's place to pick up the tickets as there was an issue with getting tickets online so Will went to the box office and got us our tickets.

Got to Wills and went up the stairs, knocked on his door and was greeted by a loud roar of SURPRISE!!!! and a slew of confetti from "party poppers".  The "stage show" that Robert had invited me to was all a ruse to get me to Will's for a surprise birthday party.

They had a make your own taco/burrito bar, alcohol and fun music. We ate, drank and danced the night away. Since I was not driving I was finally able to partake in some shots. Over a four hour period I did 5 shots of Butterscotch Schnapps and another 5 shots of Fireball Whiskey. Surprisingly I wasn't drunk, I was feeling great but not drunk. Towards the end of the night, I'd say 1am I wasn't feeling so hot so I sat out on the porch by myself for an hour or so. The party finally wind down around 2am and I crashed on the couch and was asleep by 2:30am

I had the best time, Thanks to Will and Robert for putting this all together and to all those who attended. Brett, Jen, Jes, Dallas, Donna, Rupert, Aaron, Cait, Tamar, Babara and Becca. It was a blast.

The Crazy Ones & The Michael J. Fox Show - My Review

Today I watched 2 more new TV series. The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show.

First up was The Crazy Ones, Here's a description of the series... Academy Award winner Robin Williams returns to series television in this single-camera workplace comedy about a larger-than-life advertising genius whose unorthodox methods and unpredictable behavior would get him fired... if he weren't the boss. Simon Roberts is the head of a powerful agency, with the biggest clients and brands in the world, but even more important to him is having his daughter Sydney (Sarah Michelle Gellar) by his side. As his partner, Sydney is Simon's exact opposite - focused, organized and eager to make a name for herself, but also too busy parenting her father, which she'd resent if he wasn't so brilliant at what he does. Joining them in the firm are the dashing and talented Zach; art director Andrew, who's as hard-working as he is neurotic; and the beautiful and deceptively smart assistant Lauren. With his team and his daughter behind him, Simon continues to set the advertising world on fire, and it looks like they are definitely buying what these crazy ones are selling.

I wanted to see this one because it has Robin Williams, who I just love and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy in one of my all time favorite TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Overall it was a good show. It had it's laughs, Robin Williams is playing his typical Robin Williams crazy person. I liked the interaction between the two. One thing I really enjoyed about this series is it had heart, it wasn't just your slapstick jokes. Not only was it funny at times but at the core it's about this father and daughter team. They didn't knock it out of the park for me like with other comedy pilots like The Big Bang Theory but I do plan on coming back again and seeing how the story progresses.

The other new TV series that I watched was The Michael J. Fox Show. I'm a huge Michael J. Fox fan, I grew with him on Family Ties and loved him on Spin City. He's amazing in all his movies including my favorite Back to the Future trilogy. So I was really looking forward to this one. Here's a description of the series.... Look who's making the news again! One of NY's most beloved news anchors, Mike Henry (Michael J. Fox), put his career on hold to spend more time with his family and focus on his health after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. But now five years later, with the kids busy growing up and Mike growing restless, it just might be time for him to get back to work. Having never wanted Mike to leave in the first place, his old boss Harris Green (Wendell Pierce) jumped at the chance to get him back on TV. The trick, as it's always been, was to make Mike think it was his idea. After several - okay, many - failed attempts, Mike's family, anxious to see him out of the house, finally succeeded in getting him to "run into" Green. Now their plan is in motion. He'll be back to juggling home, family and career, just like the old days - only better.

I really enjoyed this series. They had two back to back episodes so we got the pilot and episode two. The biggest thing for me about this series was seeing Michale J. Fox back on TV. It could have been total crap and I would have still loved it because it was MJ Fox. Luckily the series is very funny and sweet. Of course he makes fun of himself as does his family, but they do it in such a loving way. The show really isn't about a guy with Parkinson's, if I remember correctly they never mention what illness he has, it's just a father dealing with his family, work and his illness. This will continue to be a "must" see for me every Thursday.

Out of the two series I would say I enjoyed The Michael J. Fox Show more then The Crazy Ones but rating wise The Crazy Ones is doing better but that might be because it comes on right after The Big Bang Theory which is CBS's highest rated comedy. I hope both shows make it a full season.

"Get Fit" Week 8

So it's been two months (8 weeks) since I started this new "Get Fit" attitude to losing weight and bettering my health. There were a few hiccups along the way with my elliptical breaking, going up and down in weight but with my new elliptical and my new NutriBullet I think I'm finally getting back on track.

So it's Friday and like every Friday for the past eight weeks I weight myself first thing in the morning. Last week I was at 202 and I was hoping to get down to 200 today and sure enough my scale said 199, I was ecstatic, but wanted to double check before I got to excited, so I got off and got on again and this time it said 200. I figured I'd try a third time thinking that I'd either get 199 or 200, well it was 199.5. So I erred on the larger number and officially say that I weighted in at 200 pounds. Down another 2 pounds and a total of 10 pounds loss in two months. That's five pounds a month, which isn't great but it's also not horrible. I've come to realization that this is going to be a slow process for me. I have to be patient and vigilance and keep the downward motion going. Let's hope I can get below 200 by next Friday. I haven't been below 200 in years... fingers crossed.

Minions, Firefly & Starships

I came across a few geeky topics today that I wanted to share with you all. First up a is a shirt from ShirtPunch, if you don't know what Shirtpunch is it's a 24 hours $10 tee website. I've been really trying to resist buying any shirts. Though they are only $10 they can add up pretty quickly. But when I saw this one and it combined two of my favorite things I couldn't resist and had to purchase it. It combined Minions from Despicable Me and The Big Bang Theory. And a plus it wasn't a black shirt. I try and avoid black shirts unless I can't live without it.

Sample Page 1 (click to enlarge)

Even more exciting news.. I reported this news last month but there is a bit information about the upcoming Firefly comic book series. According to Comic Book Resources, Dark Horse Comics is launching a "Firefly" comic book series called "Serenity" that will take place after the events of the 2005 movie. Better yet, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" artist Georges Jeanty will be behind the comic.

Sample Page 2 (click to enlarge)

The writer of the comic book series has not been announced yet, but for now fans can tide themselves over for the anticipated release with a first-look at the story's art, courtesy of CBR.

The new "Serenity" comic book series will begin with Mal and his group recouperating from their attack on the Alliance. CBR writes, "With River Tam in the co-pilot chair and a very pregnant Zoe reeling from the death of her husband, Wash, Mal is finding himself and his ship in greater danger than ever."

And the last thing I wanted to share was this AWESOME poster someone created with a comparison of scifi/fantasy ships (yes I know not all of them are there), but there are plenty of them from movies, TV and video games. I've seen many posters like this but not one so extensive. You can check out the full size version HERE. Just click on the image on that page and get the full 3985 x 4442 version. It's pretty amazing.

Lots of cool geeky things to check out!!

Are you excited for the new Firefly comic book as much as I am? Leave your comments below.

Random Geek Questions x 2

Today I asked two Random Geek Questions. First one was "What is your favorite Disney movie and why?"  I got a wide range of answers, I wasn't specific on what "Disney" I as talking about. When I talk Disney I normally mean animated cartoons, from the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Princess Frog. But Disney encompasses so much more. They have their live action movies, they purchased Pixar, Marvel and Lucas Film and have so many more amazing movies from them, so when I started to get answers they were all over the board.

Some folks picked classic Disney animated movies, some choose Marvel movies like The Avengers and I even had someone choose Star Wars Episode VII which isn't even out yet. It was interesting to see everyone chooses.. it just goes to show me that I need to be more specific in my requests and that Disney is well loved by everyone.

As for my favorite Disney movie it would have to Beauty and the Beast. I love the animation, the story.. I'm a suck for the hopeless romantic.
 

My second Random Geek Question was "Remakes are big business.. what movie would you like to see remade today and why?"

This question was like throwing a match onto gasoline. I got a handful of answers but this question started a debate on the lack of creativity in Hollywood. There were lots of arguments going back and forth. I stayed out of it online since I work in Hollywood but this is my blog so I'll give you my thoughts on the topic.

I'm not a huge fan of remakes.. but I understand why they are made. Hollywood is a business, yes it's job is to entertain but it's main job is to make money. Movies cost millions and millions of dollars to make. There is no guarantee that it will be liked and watched. Remakes have a built in audience, a built in fanbase.

Now most remakes aren't a word for word remake. So I like to think of them as re-imagined instead of remakes. Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. You can take an old classic sci fi / fantasy movie and with today's tech make it look amazing. And I'm not suggesting CGI is better then "actual" models.

I can't imagine them remaking a classic like Star Wars but if they do it's not going to diminish my love for the original movies/story. Look at Star Trek, they rebooted/re-imagined the series with the same characters and personalities but slightly different. I still love the original universe but I'm enjoying what they are doing in this "new" universe. 

They have re-imagined Superman and Batman many times. Spiderman was barely a few years old when they "re-booted" that series. Am I upset that they did this.. no as these re-imagined movies have been pretty amazing and have done big bucks a the box office. It does go to show you that these "Remakes", "Re-Boots", or "Re-Imagined" movies work and that means they will keep making them.

My philosophy has always been if you don't like something then don't watch it... it's that simple.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Webseries & Babylon 5

I found a companion series for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. called "Declassified". Of course this is only the first episode so there isn't much content but what they say they will be including in each episode sounds pretty good. I look forward to watching each week. Here's Episode 1

Besides the awesome companion series today is Wednesday so that means TV night with my best bud Robert. We are continuing our first time viewing of Babylon 5. Tonight we watched Season 2 Episodes 7 - 11.

First up for the night is S2 Ep 7 "Soul Mates" Visitors to the station include Londo's three wives and Talia's ex-husband. Delenn has a bad hair day.

I liked this episode, it really didn't deal with any of the overall story arc. This was "fun" episode, a filler episode. Londo's wives storyline was my favorite. I liked seeing how different his three wives are. One is harsh and to the point, one is power hungry and will do or say anything to get what she wants and the third is young, beautiful and drawn to powerful, even ones that are not her husband. In the end Londo has to choose one wife to keep and two to kick to he curb. And of course he picked the wife I liked best, the hard nose, tell it like is wife. She asks him why he picked her as she will never love him and barely tolerate him and he says... "at least I know where I stand with you" and walks away. The camera pans to her face and you can see that she actually has feelings for
him.

We then watched S2 Ep 8 "A Race Through Dark Places" Bester has Talia investigate an "underground railroad" of telepaths escaping the Psi-corp.

This was a good episode, this one dealt with they Psi-corp which I know are going to be a larger part of the story at some point. It seems, though we don't know forsure" that they are in control of the Earth government. This was a good Talin story, is she or isn't she good/bad/working for Psi-corp. In the end I'm glad she turned her back on them and tricked Bester. This story is far from over.. can't wait to see more of it unfold. I also liked the sparks that were flying between Captain Sheridan and Delenn, possible relationship between these two.. guess I'll have to wait and see.

Third episode of the night was S2 Ep 9 "The Coming of Shadow" The Centauri emperor visits the station, leading G'Kar to attempt to assassinate him. Lord Refa and Londo conspire to expand their power on Centauri Prime.

I really enjoyed this episode as it kind of ties in with the main story arc. I have to say I'm really not liking Londo, he continues to go down this very dark path. He alone starts a new war between the Narn and the Centauri. I'm actually liking G'Kar more. I was not a fan of him at the beginning as I thought he was "the bad guy" but he's more of a victim. I mean his plan to assassinate the Centauri emperor was not good, but it was understandable and when the emperor sent a message of apology to G'Kar through the doctor, G'Kar took it to heart and really began to heal until Londo pulled his stunt and started the new war.

Our fourth episode was S2 Ep 10 "GROPOS" A task force of ground troops led by Dr. Franklin's father is assembled at B5, leading to some friction.

This was an enjoyable episode, again more of a filler episode. We got more background story for the doctor. We meet a few new characters who interact with our main cast but of course by the end they are all dead, which was very sad as one of them "Dodger" would have been a cool reoccurring character to Garibaldi. 

And our final episode of the evening was S2 Ep 11 "All Alone In The Night" Sheridan is kidnapped onto an alien ship, Delenn pays for her actions and General Hague makes an unofficial visit to the station.

Again this was just a filler episode but a good one. When this alien race (who looked very much like aliens that we think as alien, big eyes, big bald heads) is discovered instead of surrendering, they jettison their prisoners into space... that was harsh. Luckily for us the Captain and a Narn prisoner were able to make it to an escape pod before they destroyed the ship. Delenn is thrown off the Grey Counsel which I expected but they keep her on as Ambassador to B5, which again I expected.

Overall some really good episodes but not a lot of progress in the over all story arc. Lots of character building, that one of the things I am loving about Babylon 5.

New Series: Dads, S.H.I.E.L.D. & Fangasm

Super excited for the new TV season, there are several really cool sounding scifi/fantasy series coming out.  Ones that I'm really looking forward to are Almost Human, Reign, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fangasm, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and The Tomorrow People. Other non-genre shows I'm looking forward to seeing are, We Are Men, Dads, Michael J. Fox Show and The Crazy One.

So far I've only seen Dads, which premiered last week and tonight Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fangasm premiered.

Dads is a 30 minute comedy with Seth Green. Here's a short synopsis: Two successful guys in their 30's have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them.

Seth is really the only reason why I am watching it and he is by far my favorite character. I'm not head over heals in love with it but it's enjoyable. I'll continue to watch for now.

Fangasm on Syfy is a six-part docuseries that celebrates the incredibly unique, often misunderstood, and infinitely fascinating fan girl and fan boy culture. The show follows seven pop culture-obsessed fans (whose passions range from comic books and collectibles to science fiction and fantasy) living together in an LA apartment complex and working together at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. The seven must contend with each others over sized personalities and conflicting fandom as they vie for an opportunity to work within Lee's organization. Because when different passions come together, you get a real big bang.

Well I've only seen the first episode and I'm always a bit leery with it come to series like this as you don't know if they are going to make fun of "geeks" or really show them as they truly are. I have to say so far so good. They have a wide range of socially awkward geeks. Some of the things they say makes me cringe but it's true to life. I have some friends who are just like these guys on the show. I hope they continue to embrace the difference in geekyness, I mean you can poke fun at us, as we poke fun at ourselves as long as it's all done in good taste. This first episode had me in tears at the end..  I look forward to watching the entire 6 part series.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Agent Phil Coulson puts together a small team of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) agents to handle strange new cases. Each case will test the team in cooperation and ingenuity as they try to work together figuring out newly emerging superhuman individuals in the world.

This is probably one of my most anticipated new series that I have been waiting for. I'm a huge fan of all the Marvels movies and I've always been a HUGE fan of Joss Whedon. I actually know/are friends with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, I've been to there house to interview Maurissa.

(SPOILERS) This series picks up pretty right after the events of Avengers. And I have to say it did not disappoint. I loved every minute of this pilot. The humor is so Joss, the action/fight scenes were amazing and the sfx were great for a TV budget. I loved that Cobie Smulders was back as Maria Hill, even if it's just s guest spot. I liked seeing Ron Glass back on a Whedon show. I like how they explained Coulson's return but then have that scene between Hill and the Doctor (Ron Glass' character) about how he doesn't know and Hill says he can never know. I'm sure will get into more on that but I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes. I liked Fit and Sim, the none combat, more scientific team. I liked their chemistry.. now sure if they are more brother, sister or husband, wife. Got some more unknown history with Ming Nan's character.. she's bad ass and can kick butt. So many great characters, I can't wait to see where this series goes. This series lived up to and surpassed all the hype, which believe me is difficult to do.

I'll continue to blog my thoughts on these and the other series when they premiere.

Painting & New Batman Series

Not much happened today other then I finally finished painting the trim on my house and garage... woohoo.  Now I just have to paint he body of the house without screwing up the trim. I think I'm going to rent a paint sprayer to help with that. It's gonna take a lot of taping up trim and windows but I think in the long run it will be fast. I hope to start tomorrow but supposedly we have some wind advisory for the new few days.. so it might be to windy to do anything. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Got to watch one of my most anticipaed new TV series tonight.. Marvel's Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D.  You can read my thoughts on this new series and others in my next blog post.

I also heard that Fox picked up a new straight to series series called Gotham, which is going to focus on Commissioner Gordon. It's unusual for a series to get picked up without a pilot first. The network must really like the script and concept. Fox doesn't have the best track record when it comes to genre type shows. But maybe this will be different. We don't know who will be playing Gordon, I'm sure it won't be Gary Oldman who played a great Gordon in the recent Bale Batman movies. I'm not a huge Batman fan but I am looking forward to this series. If done right it could be pretty amazing.

Healthy Eating... Well Drinking

Besides the awesome elliptical that my friends got for me for my Birthday...  my brother and sister-in-law got me something that will be a huge help when it comes to eating healthy. It's called a NutriBullet. They got one of these a few months ago and have done nothing but sing it's praise.

Now if you know me you know I don't do vegetables... well not the good healthy ones at least. I've tried over the years to force myself to eat them but I've never found a way that I could and still enjoy them... well that was until my brother made me a veggie/fruit smoothy with his NutriBullet. I was skeptical and swore I would be able to taste the veggies. He poured me this huge glass which I did not appreciate but one sip and the next thing I knew the glass was empty. It's amazing how a banana can mask flavors.

Cut to today, I made my very first veggie/fruit smoothy. I used spinach, broccoli, carrots, strawberries and a banana. It was pretty amazing, I drank it down in about ten minutes. I think if I make a bit more I can replace an entire meal with this. My normal breakfasts are about 600 calories and this drink is only 170. Of course my stomach was not happy with me as it's not use to getting healthy raw veggies but I know once my system gets use to it the stomach aches will subside.

Right now I plan on replacing breakfast with a large glass of veggie/fruit smoothy. I plan to mix it up a bit with the ingredients. I've had folks suggest Kale and pineapple. The only downside to this is that veggies and fruits are expensive and being on a very tight budget at the moment makes it hard to justify buying them. But I'm going to continue doing what I can as I know this healthy eating will benefit me greatly.  Thanks Mike and Lora for getting me this awesome machine.

I Turn 43 Today

The day was September 23rd, 1970, the time 9.22pm, the location Pioneer Hospital in Artesia California. This is where I took my first breath and began what would be a very interesting life.

Today I turn 43 years old, in the past (age 40 - 42) I have thrown big weekend parties but this time I decided that I wasn't going to do that. I felt like it's just 43, now when I turn 45 that's going to be a different story.

I have amazing friends and family... I got over 200 Facebook posts wishing me a Happy Birthday and about 50 or so tweets. Family called to wish me Happy Birthday as did a few close friends. And I got some text messages and a few birthday cards. I felt well loved today. Thank you all for those warm wishes.

I didn't do a single thing today, my plan was to just chill and watch TV but since I did that yesterday because I was sick I was actually bored today. I didn't want to "work", ie painting or podcasting. So it turned into a blah kind of day.

A highlight of my day was watching Downton Abbey Season 4. It started in the UK yesterday and I scoured the internets looking for a copy. I finally found a legit copy and downloaded it (slow internet). Unfortunately the file didn't work on my TV so I had to watch it via the computer (which I am not a fan of) but honestly it didn't matter. From the first minute of the show I realized how much I miss these people and their lives. I won't go into spoilery details as I don't think this will air until early next year here in the States. But I loved it, every minute of it. After the tragic accident at the end of season three I was wondering how they would start season four. I liked how they handled one of the main cast members leaving during the hiatus. I still love Mr. Banks and Anna, Daisy is adorable and my hatred for Thomas is still there. I can't wait to see where this season goes.

During the evening I made my Birthday cake, I've been wanting to try this recipe I found for a Butterscotch Cake. I love butterscotch and I've been dying to make this. Even though I didn't have real butter or a mixer I managed to get everything mixed well. I wasn't sure how it was going to taste but it smelled pretty good. When I make cakes I always make cupcakes as I like that they are bite size and easy to eat. So when my first batch of cup cakes were done I took one and ate half of it without the icing. And to my surprise it was very tasty. I can't say it tasted exactly like butterscotch but it was still very tasty. I then put icing on the other half and oh man that is where the butterscotch taste comes from. It was like a sweetness overload. I could have eaten a dozen of them but I was good and had only that one... for now :)

I can't say this was a great birthday, I felt very alone (and I know that's crazy with all the love and messages I was getting), but I do appreciated all the birthday wishes how every I got them. I want to thank all those who sent gifts over the past few weeks (they are definably not required) but they are very much appreciated. I think this taught me a lesson.. Birthday are best when spent with friends.. I won't make that mistake again.

A Friends Birthday & The Emmys

So with my plans for Hobbit Day no longer in play I was open to go hang out with my buddy Rupert and some friends as it's Rupert's birthday today (yay... Happy Birthday Rupert). I was excited to see Rupert, Robert and Luis.

Now I haven't been feeling 100% the past few days but it hasn't been anything big until this morning when I got up. My head was killing me, I was dizzy and didn't know why. I felt hot so I took my temperature and it was 102f. Well that ruined any plans of going out today. I'm glad I changed my mind about Hobbit day as I would have been very disappointed if I was going and couldn't. It was bad enough that I was going to miss Rupert's Birthday Lunch and Movie.

So instead I did nothing but try and relax on the couch and watch TV all day. As mentioned in my previous blog post I watched The Hobbit cartoon in celebration of Hobbit Day as well as wore my Hobbit feet around the house.  During the evening it was time for the 65th Emmy Awards. Neil Patrick Harris, who I adore, was the host. I wasn't really invested in any of the categories as only a few of my favorites were nominated. The show overall was okay, my favorites parts were of course Neil singing and dancing. There was this "middle of the show for no reason" dance and song with Neil and special guest Nathan Fillon and Sarah Silverman... that was pretty epic. A few of my favorites won but overall it was a ho-hum kind of show.

I was feeling better by the end of the day, my temperature was going down and the painful headaches were subsiding. Hopefully I won't be sick tomorrow for my birthday.

Random Geek Question: Horror Movies

Posted another random geek question on Facebook and Twitter... What is your favorite Horror/Supernatural movie/series?

Did realized until writing this blog post that it actually never posted to Facebook.. that would explain why I didn't get many responses.  But I did get a few on Twitter, Aaron said "The George A. Romero zombie movies. Night of the Living Dead & Dawn of the Dead". Erlend said "The Resident Evil films + The Shining". Steven said "Don't like Horror of any type really, as for supernatural series I'd say either Sanctuary or Lost Girl". Chris said "Favorite Horror: Either "The Thing" (1982 and 2011, both), or "Dawn of the Dead" (2006)", he also said " I suppose I like the show "Supernatural", as far as supernatural stuff goes. Also, big points for "Ghostbusters".  And Twitter friend Mark (eldiablito_72) says Poltergeist is one of his favorite Horror movies. 

I agree with Mark, my favorite "horror" movie would have to be Poltergeist. I remember being a kid (age 12) and watching it with my family at a drive in theater. It scared the living daylights out of me and to this day I still love watching all three of the movies. 

So what's your favorite Horror/Supernatural movie/series? Leave your answers in the comments below.

Happy Hobbit Day

Well today is Hobbit Day in celebration of Bilbo and Frodo's Birthdays. All around the world folks are celebrating with food, drink and merriment. Unless you live under a rock and have never read any of my blogs, tweets or Facebook posts you know that I love everything about Hobbits. One of these days I will live in a Hobbit hole.

I have missed recent celebrations of Hobbit Day here in Los Angeles as my birthday is the next day on the 23rd and the past few years I have had parties to celebrate that. But this year I decided on no parties and planned to attend the L.A. gathering of Middle Earth fans at Griffith Park sponsored by The One Ring dot Net. According to their Facebook invite there were going to be over 200 fans there but I only knew 2 of them and those were folks I have never met in person only through Facebook.

I'm not good in large crowds of people that I don't know. That's when my social awkwardness really shines. I planned to dress up in my Hobbit outfit, you know I never pass up any opportunity to dress up but my current feet have several tears and I am awaiting a new pair of feet and I really didn't feel like shaving my beard either. So I decided not to attend this event, thought I do regret it a bit, I think I wouldn't have had as much fun if I had gone with some friends. Maybe next year I can convince a few of my friends to go with me.

So instead I celebrated Hobbit Day by wearing my Hobbit feet and watching Rankin & Bass The Hobbit cartoon that I had never seen before. I thought I had but it must have been the Lord of the Rings animated movie that I'm remembering.

The Hobbit cartoon was extremely abridged. They left out a ton of information and characters. The character designs were so bizzare. I mean the Dwarfs looked okay and the goblins were fine but the wood elves were scary looking and Gollum looked like a humanoid toad creature... it was very distracting. Smaug looked like a cross between a Dragon and a cat. I liked the music and the animation was okay. I'm glad I watched it and own it on DVD as I'm sure I'll want to watch it again from time to time.

So I didn't exactly celebrate Hobbit Day as planned but it was still a good day and next year I'll do a lot more pre-planning. Maybe I'll have a Hobbit Day / Birthday celebration weekend.

Visiting Family!!

Today I am spending the majority of my time with my family. But first I did my 20 minutes cardio as I'm trying to get back into that routine. I then headed out to visit family, but I had to stop by my local post office to pick up a package that they couldn't leave at my mailbox. At first I thought it was another birthday gift as it was coming from Amazon, but instead it was a car seat that I had purchased a week ago for my nephew. He's at the age and weight where he no longer needs a baby seat and I figure I'll be taking him places so I should get him a "big boy's" seat.

My brother was having a small get together with his friends but I was also visiting my Dad as I haven't seen him in a few weeks. It took me a bit longer then expected.. just over two hours but when I walked in the front door I was greeted by my nephew and niece smiling faces.. they wanted to play.

I immediately started playing with them. They introduced me to their new fish named after them of course and then we started to play cars. About a half hour later Molly wanted to go back down stairs to mom so I took her down. And figured this would be a good time to say hi to Dad and see what he was up to. Dad asked if I wanted to go to lunch, but I said Mike was bbqing hot dogs and burger but Dad wanted to take me out for a birthday lunch and who am I to argue. So we went to P.F. Changs. We had a very tasty lunch and then we drove to Toy's R Us as my Dad wanted to do a bit of shopping for his grandkids.

After shopping we headed back to Mikes and the party was in full swing. I like most of Mikes friends so I sat around and talked with some of them for a few hours. Around 7pm I said my goodbyes and started my journey home. Luckily for me the traffic going home was alot lighter then coming and I was home by 8:30pm.

I jumped on LOTRO for an hour before calling it a night and watching some Simpsons before bed time.

iOS7, Painting & Birthday Gifts

Got up this morning and did my 20 minute cardio. I then continued to try and update my iPhone with IOS7 but again kept getting an error.. after an hour my buddy Robert suggested that I try updating it over wifi. I started to download the new IOS directly to my phone and it would take about three hours as my internet is crap, this meant I couldn't leave my place as I needed to get to Lowes to buy more trim paint as I ran out. Instead I did things around the house to kill time.

The download was finally done and I applied to to my phone and viola it worked. I now have IOS7 on my phone.. of course it's going to take me a while to figure where everything is.. this update is a major change to the IOS system but I like what I have seen so far.

I  did make it to Lowes and purchased more paint stripper for my deck and another gallon of trim paint. When I got home I painted more trim around my house and garage. I think I'm about 99% done. Gonna do one more pass but I think I'm ready for the main painting of the house... woo hoo.

I've set another due date for me and I really need to keep this one. I'm hoping to have all the painting, deck sanded and stained, inside of the house super cleaned and touch up on the walls all done by the end of October so I can finally put my house up for sale by November 1st. I think it's doable and I might even be able to get it done sooner.

I also got another birthday gift in the mail.. this one was from my buddy Josh. He got me the Rankin-Bass "The Hobbit" cartoon. Being a huge Middle Earth fan you would have thought I would have seen this but I'm not sure which of the cartoons I have seen so I'm looking forward to watching this. He also got me Dungeon and Dragons part 1 and 2 on blu-ray... these movies tend to get a lot of flack but I love them.  And he also got me a Star Wars book called Vader's Little Princess.. it's the second book in that series, the first one being Darth Vader and Son. I loved the first one so I can't wait to read the second one. Thanks Josh for the awesome birthday gifts.

"Get Fit" Week 7

This wasn't a great week, especially for working out but that changed on Wednesday (well Thursday really) when some of my friends grouped together and got me a new elliptical for my upcoming birthday. The elliptical was a huge part of my daily workout so it's so awesome to have it back again.

I continue to struggle with food, I can happily say that I only ate out once this week which is pretty big for me. I'm hoping to keeping the eating out/ fast food to once or twice a week. I'll soon have a "bullet" (high speed blender) that my brother is getting me for my birthday and I'll start eating more vegetables as I have found I can drink spinach, broccoli and other veggies much easier then eating them.

I did weight myself this morning like I do every Friday morning. Last week I was at 204lbs and today I am at 202lbs. So I lost two pounds this week... yay!!! I'm hoping with this new elliptical and working out again and pounds will come off a bit faster and I'll get below 200 by next Friday. Wish me luck!!!   

Handyman Kenny

First thing I did this morning was build my new elliptical. I'm fairly handy so I figured I'd get it done in an hour or so... well 2 1/2 hours later I finally finished assembling it. It was like a workout just putting it together but once it was done I jumped on and did my first 25 minute carido workout for the day.

This elliptical is a bit different then my last one but it still kicks my butt and gets my heart racing. I'm so excited to get back into my routine of doing two 20 to 30 minute cardio workouts a day.

Only other thing I did of significance today was continue painting the trim on my garage. This one required me to get on top of my roof and hang over the side. I tried this a month or so ago on my house when it was 100+ degrees outside and almost killed me. So today I waited until around 5pm when it started to cool and I have to say it's so much easier. In the few hours of daylight that I had, I got quite a bit of it done. Should be able to finish tomorrow or the next day and then I can move on to the main body of the house, but for that I'm renting a paint sprayer.

Oh I almost forgot.. I attempted to update my iPhone to IOS 7 but it failed.. I tried several times and got the same results.. it was too late to fight with it so I gave up and will try again tomorrow. It looks cool.. my buddy Robert updated his phone yesterday so I got to see some of the changes last night. Hopefully I can update mine tomorrow.

Surprise!!!

Well as I was leaving to go hang out with buddy Robert today I opened my front door and there was this huge box sitting there. I guess I was in the shower when they delivered it as I didn't hear them knock or ring the door bell.

Of course since it's so close to my birthday I figured it was another birthday gift. I went over to the box and noticed it was an Elliptical. Of course if you're following my blog you know my last elliptical broke and it's been a struggle to find another way for me to get a good cardio workout.

This was the perfect gift for me at the perfect time as I decided that I needed to get a new one and was looking at Goodwill for a used one. I checked out the packing slip to see who it was from and I recognized the name, it was my buddy Aaron. So I texted him and said I got the elliptical and he responded letting me know if was from "The Geek Mob". He said that my friends Robert, Becca, Kim, Anthony, Michelle, Olivia, Dallas, Nicki, Anne, Jes, Brett, Jen, Rupert, Scott and of course Aaron contributed to this group gift. They also had some left over funds so they gave me a "visa" gift card with the remaining balance.

How amazing are my friends, last year they pooled money together to get me a stand up arcade video game of Gauntlet II. And this year it's a much needed exercise machine.

I was heading out so I didn't get a chance to put it together or give it a spin, that will have to wait until tomorrow but I'm super excited to get my carido workouts back on.

Thanks to all who contributed to this gift. It's exactly what I wanted and needed. You all are so amazing and special, couldn't ask for anyone better.

My Review: Prisoners

It's Wednesday which normally means TV night with Robert but tonight instead of TV night we're going to a pre-screening of the new Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal mystery triller movie Prisoners at the Arclight Hollywood.

But before the movie we got to hang out for a few hours. We grabbed some dinner at Chipotle's. We then walked over to Amoeba Records and checked out some DVD's before passing a little resturant that had some yummy looking desserts, which Robert was in the mood for.

After Robert got his giant cookie we got in line for the screening. Since it's PGA (Producer's Guild of America) screening they over book them so you need to get there fairly early to get a seat and a recent one as well.  

I had saw previews of Prisoners and it's not normally my cup of tea but it does have two of my favorite actors and it's free and a pre-screening. Here's a short synopsis of Prisoners; How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests its driver, Alex Jones, but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?  

So my review of the movie, I enjoyed it. It was truly a mystery thriller. There was some scenes that were extremely difficult to watch. Lot's of twists and turns. Some of them I saw ahead of time and some took me by complete surprise. The acting is amazing, especially Hugh Jackman as this isn't his typical role. This movie raises the question how would you react if someone you loved was kidnapped. I personally think Hugh's character went way beyond the point of any sane person.

This isn't a movie I could or would watch over and over again. I mean I would watch it from time to time but this isn't my kind of movie to purchase on blu-ray. I give Prisoners a solid B. It did exactly what I expected. Kept me glued to my seat and bouncing back and forth on who did it.

Random Geek Question: Favorite Vehicles

I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter, Which is your favorite "vehicle" in Scifi & Fantasy and Why? Again it's funny which questions really resonates with the readers and which do not.. this one was a huge hit. I got over 30 responses. Some of the more popular choices were TARDIS, Delorean from BBTF, Serenity, Defiant from Deep Space Nine and Bat Mobile. Some of the more interesting ones, Echo 1 from Ghostbusters, Portal Gun from Portal, Moya from Farscape and Alpha fighters from Mospeda. 

As for my favorites I initially said Enterprise D or Speeder Bikes but after seeing what others have said I think my favorite of favorites would have to be Serenity. There is something about that ship that is just magical. But then again Moya is a living ship and I love that about her. There are just so many great vehicles in sci fi and fantasy.

Webseries & Wardrobe

Today was all about GE3K'S Company, started my day with a kink in our photo shoot next month. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication with the photographer so I'm on the look out for another photographer to help us out. I have a few people in mind so hopefully I'll find someone soon.

I had lunch with Jes who is doing wardrobe as well as being one the three leads. We discussed the wardrobe of each cast member. I want each person to have their own look/style. Afterwards we went back to her place and spent a few hours going through the first four episode scripts and determined how many outfits each person is going to need per episode.

Unfortunately when I got home I realized that Celtx (the program we are using to write the scripts) didn't update on my ipad so we were using older scripts with missing scenes. So I'll need to go back through the scripts and add any addition wardrobe changes to each episode. Decided to only use Celtx online to make sure we are using the most up to date version of the script.

Still have to finish writing season one.. we've gotten 6 of the 10 episode written but we still have time before we start shooting so I'm in no rush. Chris and I know where we want the story to go just need to work on the dialogue. 

Pottermore & Toy Story

Today I decided to jump back on Pottermore as it's been a good six or so months since I was on it last. I did jump on last week for like five minutes during a google hangout and noticed some big changes so I wanted to go back and really check it out.

They really revamped the entire thing. I was one of the few "beta" testers back in the day when it first came out and I have to say they have come a long way. I think my favorite improvement was the "status" bar for each scene. Now you know if you have seen or collected everything in that scene. Before you would find a gold galleon or a chocolate frog but have no idea if you found everything. They added audio book clips to scenes and music and sound effect as well.

I actually started over again with chapter one of the first book to make sure I got everything and I have to say thank goodness I did. I missed so much during my first pass. I went through all three books (what's currently up there) in about four hours. It was alot of fun. I still have to go back and read all the exclusive "J.K. Rowling" added content. I read about half of it but there is so much more.. can't wait to go back and finish it. And I really can't wait until the fourth book comes out.

Pottermore may not be a site I visit everyday but it's fun to go back and check it out from time to time. If you want to add me as a friend please do so.. my user name is FireboltCrimson66

It wasn't all fun and games today.. I did continued my painting of the garage, sanding of the deck and yard work. I got a good amount of work done.... so yay me.

I'm a huge Toy Story fan and was shocked when I came across Toy Story Toons on my TV channel guide. I had never heard of this so I of course I had to recorded it. I also went online to find out more information about it and here is what I found;

Toy Story Toons is a short series based on the Toy Story franchise. The series of shorts take place after the events of Toy Story 3. The first episode, Hawaiian Vacation, was released with the theatrical release of Cars 2. A second episode titled Small Fry was shown with the theatrical release of The Muppets. The third episode, Partysaurus Rex, was released with the theatrical 3D release of Finding Nemo.

Two more shorts are in development, with one of them, called Mythic Rock, being released in 2013. All the episodes are planned to be aired on Disney Channel. Also, two television specials are planned for October 2013 and Spring 2014. The one being released in October 2013 will be a Halloween special and is called Toy Story of Terror.

I remember hearing about Hawaiian Vacation but I had no idea about the others and I love that they are releasing them on TV. So far I've only seen "Small Fry" and it was very cute. I love that they have all the characters original voices and that it's a continuation of the events after Toy Story 3. I can't wait for the rest as well as the Halloween special this year.